Yakuza | DISCONTINUED | 2023 VERSION AVAILABLE NOW

Illumi: Too psychopathic for this crap

Disclaimer: The anime and all media used does not belong to me.

~

"Can you let me go now?"

I grab her attention like so while I remain to be surprised by her actions. We've stopped walking, allowing me to form an assessment of the events that took place.

Akira is bipolar.

"What was that!?" She exclaims, releasing my wrist roughly.

"Ow." I pretended to be pained for the quality of her response, "I should be the one asking that."

The redhead scoffs, shaking her head in derision, "Too bad, you're not. Now, what was that?"

"What was what?"

"You entertained that drab."

I fought the urge to roll my eyes as I aimlessly walk away from her, "You dismissed that so-called drab, didn't you? So whatever I may have done before you did has been rescinded."

"Like hell it is!" 

Closing my eyes with an inaudible sigh, I turn around and face her. Akira's cheeks were tinted with a shade of pink and her usually docile features now reflected anger. It contrasted the blue kimono she is adorned in, appearing to alleviate her emotions in vain. What seized my attention, however, was the color... colors that her eyes have taken. Aside from the brown I've come to loathe, I saw hints of purple and gold. It would've been easy to dismiss it as reflections off the water if we were standing close to it, but we weren't.

"Are you feeling alright?" I ask.

She pauses, expression softening into an almost vulnerable look before she turned her face away, "Yeah... Forget I said anything."

Like hell I will. 

"Okay." I voice, turning back around, "Come on, then."

This time, I was not so aimless. My feet steers me to the hill I've been to before going to the boat, and I hear Akira's steps from behind me. Only when I've already sat down and leaned my back on the tree atop the hill did the woman break from her thoughts and let realization catch up.

"What are you doing?"

"Wasting energy by being idle. You should give this a shot, it might give you peace and quiet by making you uncomfortable."

Akira rolls her eyes, proceeding to approach, "I know you're resting-"

"Then what's the point in asking me?"

She gave me a pointed look.

Oh, the satisfaction.

"Why come here?" She sits beside me, desperate to avert my attention from her peculiar behavior.

I cross my legs, "After our discussion, I couldn't locate you as easily as I thought, so I looked for an elevated point and came across this hill. You happened to pass by via boat, so after I changed from that dreadful clothing you forced me in-"

"Hush, you know you loved it while it lasted." She smirks.

A tick mark emerged in my head, "-I came to talk to you."

She grew incredulous, fiddling with the jewelry around her neck, "You call annoying me for thinking about this pendant talking?"

"I was-" No... it's pointless to argue at this point. Pointless and taxing. 

"Just ask already. Get it over with." she folds her legs, placing her arms on her thighs as she sighs in resignation.

I hesitated. Unbecoming and unusual as it was for me, a Zoldyck assassin, to hesitate, I did. What could I ask? About the applicants back at the Hunter Exam? Her gloves? Did she know she is to marry someone worse (and larger) than my brother? Why had I not seen her through my youth when I've spent most of it as her sister's apprentice? How she knew that I wanted to ask? There was still no answer as to why she behaved the way she did back at the boat... And come to think of it, so was the reason behind her being specifically assigned under my supervision in the Hunter Exam.

Through all of that buzzing in my mind, I made yet another mistake.

"Why are you so ill-tempered?"

"Excuse me...!?"

"My point exactly." I heard myself proceed, but it felt as if I had no control over my words. My lies. "Why, despite being a daughter of assassins, and no less the heir of that family, are you as difficult as you look? It's irony at work, don't you think?"

Akira scoffs, looking away for a moment as she clenches her jaw in vexation, "How someone is has nothing to do with how they look."

"Writers would beg to differ."

She looks back at me, but now her gaze was more exhausted than usual, "I'm not ill-tempered. My anger is just more prominent than most of my other emotions."

I condescendingly hum, "Why is it easy to doubt that statement?"

The female groans, lying down. She puts her hands behind her head, sprawling over the grass as she looks up at the evening sky. I shrug, "You said I could ask."

"There's a difference between asking and asking reasonably."

I sigh, opting not to answer as I cast my gaze upwards as well. With that, silence overcame us, only every-so-often interrupted by the sound of crickets and various animals. The leeway to think this moment allowed me felt threatening, but I took it anyway. Another mistake I'm completely aware of making.

Akira's not the best person to have around... But she isn't the worst, either. Somehow in the middle ground, this storm of a woman is spontaneous and unpredictable with every move and word that it's only aggravating because it still works well. That kind of appearance shines the most in infiltration and other missions along those lines where traits such as charm and beauty are required.

Yes, she is somewhat of an airhead. But I am not lowering my guard because I've encountered other individuals, and they are more than capable to strike when provided with even a glimmer of an opening; if Akira is pretending to be impulsive when she's actually not, then she's better company than Hisoka without a doubt.

Of course, she exhibited moments supporting this theory of mine. Our first meeting, when she came to Kukuroo Mountain and I interrupted her talk with Canary from going any further, she struck me as someone who could rival my own prowess. She had evaluated me that it made me feel as if driven to a corner, even for a fleeting instance. And when she confronted me in the aftermath of my fight with Killu, her hostility was something she could not fake, considering how serious she was. Her defenses was flawed, and yet at the same time, it was not.

Finally, after what felt like eternity, a series of booms echoed through the city, quickly succeeded by bright, vibrant lights. Fireworks littered the sky, and along with the gasps and cheers prompted by the locals and other people far from us, Akira shot up, eyes wide with surprise and happiness.

And just for a flicker of a moment, I felt something in me lift. Using my own Nen, I secretly assessed my body for pernicious attacks that could explain the sensation in my body, specifically my stomach and chest. When I found nothing, I grew even more agitated, but the longer I saw Akira happy, the harder it became to stay that way. I didn't succeed, in the end.